Managing traffic lights a complicated, high-tech affair for city

Every time you drive through the city, your trip is governed by the colours of red, green and yellow. On a good day you may get a lot of green, on a bad day you may get a lot of red. The efforts behind those colours and the traffic lights that use them is ongoing for the City of Regina, who work to keep up with driver demands and emerging technologies.

Craig Baird, Regina Leader-Post

Published on: June 12, 2017 | Last Updated: June 12, 2017 7:53 PM CST

Norman Kyle, director of roadways and transportation, sits in front of an open traffic signal control cabinet. Michael Bell / Regina Leader-Post

Does that lengthy wait at the traffic light have you seeing red? Or perhaps on other days, you’re lucky enough to always get the green light.

The efforts behind those colours and the traffic lights that use them are ongoing for the City of Regina as well as the crews who work to keep up with driver demands and emerging technologies.

“We do traffic counts all over the city on a yearly basis,” said Norman Kyle, director of roadways and transportation. “We do that to get the roadway volumes and that helps us know when we have to do upgrades and things like that.”

According to Kyle, by looking at traffic volumes at a given light, the city can develop a stronger idea of what areas need to have traffic lights changed, or turning lights added. If an intersection receives 150 vehicles turning left at a peak hour, then an advance turn light will be installed to help clear the intersection.

“You also look at a corridor perspective. Albert Street is a good example of that,” Kyle said. “You will get a green light and then you drive ahead and get another green. You may have to wait slightly because we also use the lights to control speed. What you will see is that we lock-step the signal timing so that the next green light starts soon after the previous one.”

Along with traffic counts, traffic engineers and technicians hit the pavement themselves to get a better understanding of Regina’s traffic flow.

“There are programs that you can use to get guidance, but you have to drive it to see how it behaves,” Kyle said.

Often, the changes that come to traffic light signals are barely noticed by residents, but they will have an impact on their day-to-day lives. In March, 46 signals were re-timed in the downtown core to reduce the waiting on side streets at off-peak times.

“This was done for vehicles but more for pedestrians,” Kyle said. “When it wasn’t a peak time, and we weren’t moving large volumes of traffic, we could reduce delays for pedestrians to cross the streets downtown.”

Looking ahead, some interesting new technology will find its way into the traffic light system to help make driving through Regina more efficient.

“We are going to more video detection. The old type had a wire in the road that acted like a magnet and picked up the metal in the vehicle,” Kyle said. “That would tell the signal there was someone there. Now the cameras do that.”

Darrell Geiss, the crew lead for traffic technical operations, holds up an electrical schematic of how a traffic signal control cabinet is wired.Michael Bell /
Regina Leader-Post

The city is also looking at using software that will allow camera detectors to determine the type of vehicle currently waiting at a light. This will create greater efficiency, especially during peak hours.

“They can tell the difference from a motorcycle all the way up to a semi,” Kyle said. “That gives us more traffic counts, and more accurate information at the intersections. We are just testing out the software, and then we have to set up the cameras. We are hoping by next year we will be getting a more accurate count data.”

Power outages will also present less of a headache for drivers thanks to uninterrupted power supplies coming to signal locations in the city.

“We have been installing backup battery systems in major intersections … these could provide six hours of battery life in the summer,” Kyle said. “The signals will work in a power outage for traffic safety.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Ten Anglican, Catholic and Lutheran bishops are calling for Saskatchewan residents to pursue reconciliation with "renewed passion and commitment" following Gerald Stanley's acquittal in the shooting death of Colten Boushie.